Mews News: It's All About The Cats!

November 18, 2021

Mews News:

It's All About The Cats!

The Nine Lives cats are taking over Giving Tuesday! Coming up on November 30th, Giving Tuesday is a one-day global effort to do good by giving wherever and however you can.

We’ve renamed it Giving Mewsday because, after all, it’s all about the cats! Nine Lives works hard to put a good roof over their heads, give them medical care, and socialize and nurture them so they can thrive — and find them loving homes.

On behalf of the cats in the Bay Area who rely on Nine Lives, we ask you to make a donation on (or before!) November 30th. Each and every dollar makes a difference — so please make their day count!

Adopt a Senior Pet!

November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month. Celebrate the occasion by bringing home a cat with experience!

Anacapa is a beautiful 11-year-old brown and white tabby who first came to Nine Lives in 2015. After spending several years in a long-term foster home, she came back to our Adoption Center in mid-June.

Upon her return, one of our veterinarians identified a mass on one of her hind legs, which was then confirmed to be cancerous. Less than a week later, she had the leg amputated at our clinic and began settling into her new life as a tremendous tripod.

Since recovering from surgery, Anacapa has been waiting to find her perfect forever home. In the meantime, our medical team has been working on a behavioral plan to address Anacapa's occasional aggression due to overstimulation and territorial conflicts with other cats.

Anacapa has responded well to this extra attention and has learned to enjoy short petting sessions and the hand-fed treats that come with it. We think she'd progress even more outside of the sometimes-chaotic shelter environment, so hope to find her a cat-savvy adopter or foster family with a lot of patience. She will need to be the only cat in her new home so she can bond with her new family without distractions.

Are you interested in giving this sassy senior kitty a happy home? If so, call us at (650) 368-1365 or fill out an adoption or foster application on our website.

Donation Spotlight

We’re thrilled to announce a significant donation to purchase a digital dental X-ray system for Nine Lives. So many cats come to us desperately needing a wide range of dental care, especially those suffering from feline stomatitis, an extremely painful condition in which the body's immune system overreacts to plaque on the teeth and develops widespread inflammation in the mouth and throat. Imagine your worst sore throat and multiply it by 100!

When Nine Lives supporter Christal Bemont learned that Nine Lives' cats could benefit from having a dental X-ray system on site, she stepped up and immediately donated over $15,000 to cover its complete cost and installation! Christal shares her home with two former Nine Lives cats, Arly and Kyle.

Sr. RVT Robert (L) and Dr. Desai (R) showing off our new X-ray machine!

The X-ray system allows our medical team to take sharp, detailed images right on site — leading to a more complete evaluation of a cat’s oral health.

These detailed images help our veterinarians quickly pinpoint problems below the gum line and target treatment more effectively.

With stomatitis, for example, full-mouth tooth extractions are often needed. Dental x-rays are critical as they allow our vets to ensure that not only the tooth but also the often hard-to-detect tooth roots have been removed.

This minimizes the need for additional surgery, infection, potential trips to specialists — which can be very costly — and the additional stress these can all cause for a cat.

We’re humbled by Christal’s incredible generosity. Thanks to her, we can provide more comprehensive on-site dental care for our cats. Nine Lives kitties Tulip and Angus have already benefited from having the X-ray system — both received full mouth extractions this month and are on the road to recovery! Thank you, Christal!

Introducing our Executive Director!

We’re excited to announce that Nine Lives has hired Liam Montgomery as our new Executive Director! Liam will be responsible for the overall management of Nine Lives, including daily operations of the clinic and adoption center. In this role, he will be working very closely with the medical, administrative and facilities teams; volunteers and the Board of Directors; and other rescue organizations throughout the Bay Area.

We’ve needed the day-to-day administrative leadership at this level for some time. In order for Nine Lives to grow — and help more cats! — we realized we needed someone to fulfill this role full-time and on site.

Before coming on board last month, Liam wrote to the Nine Lives team: “I would like to express how delighted I am to join your fantastic family. I am thrilled to be working alongside such talented people and Nine Lives supporters who have such a dedication to saving lives and advocating for the best quality of life for our feline friends.”

Originally from the UK (Wales), Liam worked in London for nine years as a large-scale event/operations manager before moving to San Francisco five years ago. He has extensive administrative experience in the veterinary field, first serving as a manager of San Francisco Veterinary Specialists, which at the time was the only full-service, multidisciplinary 24-hour hospital in the city.

Most recently, he was a regional director for Curo Pet, overseeing 15+ veterinary hospitals on the West Coast. While there, he led large-scale projects to unify independent practices, and also created and introduced best-practice initiatives and protocols.

Please join us in welcoming Liam to the Nine Lives family!

Feel the Petco Love!

Nine Lives Foundation is honored to announce the award of a $5,000 grant from Petco Love, an organization that since 1999 has served as a leader and valued partner in animal welfare, always focusing on one thing: Creating a better world for animals and the people who love and need them. This grant has allowed Nine Lives to acquire and install Shelterluv, an electronic medical and adoption record-keeping software system.

As a result of Petco Love’s generosity, Nine Lives has moved from a cumbersome manual system based on paper records to a more efficient electronic method that automates processes and reports. We also have purchased laptops so vets and vet techs can enter medical records rapidly and in real time.

Thanks to Petco Love’s investment, Nine Lives has improved continuity of cat care by allowing us to keep information on individual cats all in one place; to provide automated reminders for preventative care, such as vaccines and flea treatments; and to consolidate surgical and medical records, such as post-operative care and medical issues management. It also means Nine Lives can provide a streamlined adoption process and enhanced customer service for adoptions.

Butterscotch (L) and Nellie (R) were two of the first NLF kitties entered into ShelterLuv

Because of Petco Love’s open-hearted support, Nine Lives can focus less on paperwork and more on what we do best: lifesaving, nurturing care for cats and finding them the permanent, loving homes they so desperately deserve—like Butterscotch and Nellie, among the cats whose information was entered into the new system!

Nine Lives is proudly supported by Petco Love, which is helping us help more cats in the Bay Area. We’re grateful beyond words @PetcoLove!

The 2022 Calendars Have Arrived!

The Nine Lives Foundation 2022 Calendar is now available! Calendars can be purchased online, by phone at (650) 368-1365, or in person at our clinic (3137 Jefferson Avenue in Redwood City). Want to save yourself a trip? You can have them mailed to you for a $5 shipping fee.

The calendars are $15 plus tax. They make great holiday gifts and your purchase helps us save the lives of so many more cats and kittens! For those of you who submitted photos in the calendar photo contest, you will get your complimentary copies soon.